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McArthur: Pardew should be linked to all the big jobs

Alan Pardew: Doesn't get credit he deserves, says Alan Pardew

Crystal Palace midfielder James McArthur hopes Alan Pardew’s success continues to go under the radar as he fears bigger clubs may soon come calling for the Eagles manager.

Pardew marked his one-year anniversary as Palace boss with a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday but the loss was a small blotch on an otherwise remarkable 12 months.

When Pardew took over, the Eagles were 18th in the table and without a win in eight league games but he steered them to a 10th-place finish. They now sit seventh, with an outside chance of securing Champions League football.

Uncertainty continues to surround the managerial positions at Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City but reports suggest those clubs would all overlook the likes of Pardew for a more high-profile name from abroad.

McArthur admits the former Newcastle boss does not get the credit he deserves in England but is happy for that to remain the case if it means he stays at Selhurst Park.

“He’s been unbelievable,” McArthur said.

“To come in when the club were in a relegation battle, and not looking great to be honest, he’s turned it around and made a really good side.

“He probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves but that’s probably a good thing for Crystal Palace.

“We don’t want him to get too much credit and start getting linked with big jobs.

“I’m not really concerned about that because he’s a great manager for Crystal Palace and we want him to stay here as long as he can.”

Palace struggled to keep pace with Chelsea on Sunday as Oscar, Willian and Diego Costa sealed a comfortable win for Guus Hiddink’s side.

“It wasn’t really like us,” McArthur said.

“We didn’t stay in the game or do things we normally do. We made it too easy for Chelsea. We’re disappointed with the way we played.

“It was one of my worst games for Palace. We need to move on and I need to move on fast. Just on the ball, not good enough, off the ball a couple of times they ran off me and got chances.

“I’m obviously disappointed, everyone is really down.”

It was the third consecutive match Palace have failed to score in as Pardew’s side again missed the attacking threat of Yannick Bolasie, Dwight Gayle and Connor Wickham, who are all injured, and Yohan Cabaye, who was suspended.

The Eagles are keen to add creative reinforcements in the transfer window but McArthur believes the side will also improve when key players return.

“Anywhere in the team you welcome additions. It’s competition for places and we need to be making good performances every week and by making more additions we’ll do that,” McArthur said.

“As a team we also need to do more going forward. You look at any team in the league and you take two of the top performers out – if you took Costa and Willian out of Chelsea they would look a different side as well.

“We’ve got Yannick coming back soon, Gayle, Cabaye – if you look at the names I’ve just mentioned they’re big names for the club.”

Palace face Southampton in the FA Cup third round on Saturday in a repeat of last year’s fourth-round tie when the Eagles won 3-2.

“It’s a really big game for us, we want to do well in the cup competitions,” McArthur said.

“We need to take confidence from the win last year. We’ll pick ourselves up this week and be ready to go again.”